The invention relates generally to client computers on the World Wide Web (WWW) and deals more particularly with web browser programs.
The WWW is well known and comprises a multitude of computer servers, respective data bases and a network by which client computers can communicate with the servers and request and load the data. A server may directly manage its own data base and access other, remote data bases on behalf of a client user. The client typically includes a xe2x80x9cweb browserxe2x80x9d program to provide a user interface to the WWW.
The server presents the data to the user as xe2x80x9cweb pagesxe2x80x9d and each web page is represented by a xe2x80x9cURLxe2x80x9d address. The URL comprises an access method/protocol such as http as a prefix, a server name or xe2x80x9chome pagexe2x80x9d and the data type, if any, as a suffix. The server name typically includes a xe2x80x9cdomain namexe2x80x9d which is the name of a company, educational institution or other organization that owns the server. There are different ways that a client can access a web page. If the client knows the server name and data type suffix, if any, the client can directly request the web page from the server. However, if the client only knows the server name, the client can address the server name, and in response, the server will present the xe2x80x9chome pagexe2x80x9d for the server. For those web pages for which the user does not know at least the server name, there are different types of search engines, such as key word search engines and catalog search engines, to identify a server and/or web page of interest. The home page, as well as other web pages, typically include text or graphics which serve as links to other web pages. The links are sometimes called xe2x80x9chot linksxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cclick pointsxe2x80x9d, and when a user selects a link with a mouse, the web browser requests the web page from the server and then displays the web page upon receipt.
Whenever a web browser requests a web page from the server, either by a user specifying a URL or selecting a link, the web page is loaded to the client machine in the form of an html file. The html file comprises a specification of each component of the web pagexe2x80x94text, graphics, the nature of the component and whether each text or graphic is a link to another web page. The format of the conventional html is an industry standard and is further defined in xe2x80x9cHTML for Fun and Profitxe2x80x9d by Mary E. S. Morris published in 1995 by SunSoft Press, A Prentice Hall title. In the case of text, the html defines the actual text and its location on the web page. However, in the case of graphics, the html does not define the graphics itself but instead specifies a pointer to other files remote from the client which actually define the graphics. Some of the graphics are complex. While the graphics add meaning to the web page and can serve as links, they are often time consuming to load especially if the graphics are complex. The time delay is caused by the slowness of the communication lines between the client and the server. Thus, after selecting a link, the user must wait for the corresponding html and graphics to be loaded, and this wait can be extensive.
A general object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for expediting access by a user to web pages referenced by links on another web page currently being viewed by the user.
The invention resides in a web browser which loads and displays a web page, and reads the html of the web page to identify an entry for a link which is marked for pre-loading. Then, the web browser automatically pre-loads into memory another html and associated graphics files corresponding to this link. This automatic pre-loading occurs without the link being selected by a user of the web browser. If the user subsequently selects the link, then the corresponding html and associated graphics files will be available from local memory so there is little delay in fetching the html and associated graphics files.
In accordance with one feature of the invention, if the user selects another link in the web page which is currently being displayed, the web page corresponding to this other link is not resident in local memory and the pre-loading is in-progress, then the web browser halts the pre-loading and instead loads the web page currently selected by the user.